Human hair becomes soiled due to its contact with the surrounding atmosphere and, to a greater extent, from sebum secreted by the head. The build-up of the sebum causes the hair to have a dirty feel and an unattractive appearance. The soiling of the hair necessitates it being shampooed with frequent regularity.
Shampooing the hair cleans by removing excess soil and sebum. However, the shampooing process has disadvantages in that the hair is left in a wet, tangled and generally unmanageable state. A variety of approaches have been developed to alleviate the after-shampoo problems. These range from the inclusion of hair conditioning aids in shampoos to post-shampoo application of hair conditioners, i.e. hair rinses. Difficulties associated with the use of conditioning aids in shampoos have been compatibility problems and a greasy feel on the just-washed hair. Hair rinses typically work by depositing a polymeric film or other material onto the hair. However, such solutions to a very prevalent problem have not been fully satisfactory. For one thing, hair rinses are generally liquid in nature and must be applied in a separate step following the shampooing, left on the hair for a length of time, and rinsed with fresh water. This, of course, is time consuming and is not convenient. The results obtained in this manner also have not been fully satisfactory due to the difficulties associated with the deposition and retention on the hair of the hair conditioning aid.
Attempts have been made to alleviate some of the above problems by use of a substrate article to condition hair. Such attempts have not proven to be entirely successful. The lack of success has been related to poor transfer of the hair conditioning agent from the substrate to the hair, unsatisfactory wet hair feel and the lack of sufficient dry hair manageability benefits. The problem of inefficient transfer of an active from a substrate to a surface has been faced previously in the dryer added fabric conditioning field. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,534, July 3, 1973 to Zamora wherein release is improved by coating the substrate first with a solid waxy material. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,694, Mar. 16, 1976 to McQueary wherein the substrate is first coated with paraffin.
Although the above references disclose methods of improving conditioner release in the fabric conditioning field, the references do not suggest methods for improving wet hair feel and dry hair manageability. Many different materials have been applied to fabrics from a substrate particularly in the clothes dryer context to improve the treated material's properties. Included among prior art references are U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,633, Feb. 28, 1978 to Edwards et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,996, Feb. 14, 1978 to Bedenk et al. The Edwards et al patent describes articles containing starch particles while the Bedenk et al patent describes articles containing particles of smectite clay. While these methods have been disclosed, there is no suggestion to use them on hair. Furthermore, there is no suggestion to use water soluble salts on a substrate for conditioning fabrics, even less hair.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a superior article for use in conditioning hair.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a superior hair conditioning article comprising a flexible substrate releasably carrying a hair conditioning agent and a water soluble salt.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a superior method for conditioning hair.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the description to follow.
As used herein, all percents and ratios are by weight unless otherwise indicated.